PayPal’s prickly porn policies

Recently, mega-bank J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has itself in the media spotlight alongside some unwanted guest stars: porn stars. The bank has been accused of closing accounts of adult film stars in an effort to avoid reputational and financial risk. Now it seems that Internet pay giant PayPal has followed suit.

Al Jazeera is reporting that PayPal has closed the account of prominent porn star, Teal Conrad, and banned her from the site. PayPal claims that she violated the site’s acceptable use policy, in regards to her webcam shows. PayPal’s policy includes vague wording that disallows using the service for transactions that involve “certain sexually oriented materials or services.”

Conrad is not the only adult film star who has been blocked from the online pay service recently, as Al Jazeera also reports that Tasha Reign’s PayPal accounts have been closed repeatedly over the past year, and other, unnamed industry professionals have had issues with banks such as J. P. Morgan Chase, and other financial institutions barring them from doing business. While some would argue that pornography has become more mainstream than ever, it’s likely that financial services firms have become more conservative, looking to diminish the risk of being associated with an industry that is tangential to potentially illegal activities, such as human trafficking.

Free expression advocates bristle at these cancellations, though as of yet, free speech advocacy groups have yet to take concentrated action.

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